1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic service apparatus and automatic service system for executing screen control and automatic service operation according to the screen content from a Web server, and more particularly to an automatic service apparatus and automatic service system which operate by the screen content, where the screen information and the device control information related to the screen are embedded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic service apparatus are used for various service business, such as automatic withdrawal machines and automatic deposit/withdrawal machines in the financial field, and automatic ticket machines and automatic issuing machines in other fields. Along with the recent advancements of networks, such as the Internet, such automatic service apparatus which deposit/withdrawal, issue tickets, and output various information by using Web technology are being provided.
FIG. 31 is a block diagram depicting a conventional automatic service system, which shows the ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) system used for financial business. As FIG. 31 shows, a WWW (World Wide Web) server 300 and an automatic cash transaction apparatus 400 are connected via a network.
The server 300 sends the Web page (screen content) 500 to the automatic transaction apparatus (that is ATM) 400, which is a client, according to the request of the ATM 400. On this Web page, a program for creating a screen to be displayed on the display device is created in a page description language (HTML, JavaScript), and control programs of other devices (card processing device, cash processing device, pass book processing device, statement slip processing device), which are driven and controlled in relation to the display content of this one page (one screen), are embedded as objects.
For example, as FIG. 31 shows, a Web page 500 is comprised of a screen creation program, an applet tag for specifying an object (applet), a screen content 502 for specifying the execution method thereof by script, and applets 510 where programs for executing the method of the object (applet) are set, based on the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) page description language.
This Web page 500 is downloaded to the browser 410 of the ATM 400 from the WWW server 300. In the ATM 400, on the other hand, ATM middleware operates and the I/O operation (transaction operation) is executed based on the control of the kernel (OS). The ATM 400 has a card reader/writer unit 440, a receipt/journal printer 441, a bill/coin processing unit 442, a pass book processing unit 443 and a user operation panel as the I/O mechanical units.
The browser 410 displays the screen on the user operation panel according to the screen creation program of the Web page, analyzes the applet tag and the method name of the screen content 502, executes the corresponding program of the applet 510, and issues a command to the I/O units 440-443.
In this ATM controlled by the Web browser, it is proposed that the device interface assignment section (Machine ID) 420 is specified for each device (e.g. cash processor) as an embedded object (applet) of the screen content 502, and the operation method of each device is specified by the Script (JavaScript) of the screen content 502 (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-298752).
In this method, the device interface assignment section 420 is specified by the applet tag of the screen content 502, and the device interface assignment section 420 sequentially reads the Script, decodes, assigns an operation instruction to the corresponding interface section 430-433, and operates the corresponding I/O units 440-443.
In this proposal, when ATMs with the same functions are controlled by the Web, a plurality of units can be operated by one applet tag of the screen content, therefore the number of descriptions in HTML of the screen content can be decreased, and there can be fewer embedded objects.
In the case of a Web-controlled automatic service device, however, an operation guide screen, such as a transaction screen, is displayed using a browser. And an I/O unit is controlled via the applet integrated into this transaction screen (content). Therefore processing cannot be requested to the I/O unit unless there is a download wait of an applet for each screen. As a result, for the user to operate a plurality of operations, a wait time is generated for each operation, which makes the service time, such as for a transaction, long.
Also when multiple input button images are displayed on the operation guide screen, the download time for applets and the download time for the button images become long, which in some cases is not good. For example, it is preferable in terms of visual sensation and design to dispose multiple buttons and change the button image display for normal status, inversion status and gray out status according to the pressing by the user. But it takes time to display for HTML and Script, so performance, in terms of visual sensation, improves if buttons are displayed by applets. But if applets are used, time is taken for a download, and the screen switching time becomes longer than HTML.
Because of this, the time for the user to use an automatic service device becomes long, which drops the operating rate and makes the response wait time for the user long.